Journey into Darkness
Journey into Darkness is the fourth episode of Season 1 and fourth episode overall of Fantendo - Journey, written by Sr.Wario. Reception has been (TBA). Summary The mysterious villains reveal themselves and invade F.A.N.T HQ, ending in new meetings and a tough battle. Transcript A dim room is shown with a single lightbulb illuminating it. Faint screams can be heard, when Ashlee is pushed into the spotlight. She falls down and grunts, but gets up. ::Ashlee: Heroes don't give up. Ashlee looks around in the darkness to spot her opponent, when a fireball is hurled toward her. She uses her telekinesis to narrowly catch it and throw it at the ground. The opponent then comes into the spotlight slowly, revealing him as Mr. Cross. ::Mr. Cross: Heroes don't exist. Just winners and losers. Ashlee frowns at him as she throws a punch, but he dodges it and disappears into the darkness. ::Ashlee: We can all be heroes if we strive for i- Ashlee is then interrupted by a fireball that knocks her to the ground. She groans in pain as Mr. Cross walks into the spotlight and pulls out a gun. ::Mr. Cross: And I'm the winner. The camera then shows Tommy, who is watching through a small window and trying to open the locked door. ::Tommy: No! Ash! The screen then goes black as everything becomes silent. ---- Tommy, hood up, is jogging through the outside courtyard of the team's mansion. Suddenly, he is hit in the head by a tennis ball and looks around, stopping in his tracks. '' ::'Ashlee': Didn't mean to interrupt. ''Tommy raises an eyebrow at Ashlee who grins. Tommy sighs and keeps running, when another tennis ball hits him. ::Tommy: This isn't helpful. ::Ashlee: Think of it as training! You wanna be able to run and avoid getting hit, right? Tommy begins to argue when he sees Ashlee laughing to herself and sighs. ::Tommy: Yeah, fine. Tommy starts up a sprint again as Ashlee picks up a tennis ball and uses her mind to fling it. Tommy runs around it, and Ashlee claps for him and picks up three tennis balls from a bucket. '' ::'Ashlee': Try this! ::'Tommy': Look, Ashlee, I've escaped far worse than tennis b- ''Ashlee then flings it straight at Tommy, hitting him in the head. He stubbornly runs faster, but she flings the other two in front of him, causing him to trip. He falls down and gets up, smirking at Ashlee. As she bursts into laughter, he can't help but join in. ::Matt: Excuse me, you crazy kids, but F.A.N.T needs us. Matt heads in as Ashlee follows. Tommy blushes and catches up with them. ---- Tommy looks around to find everyone gathering things. Tommy sits on the couch and lays back, as Danielle looks at him, curious. ::Tommy: Why do you people love to stare at me? ::Danielle: You're just that interesting. But if we're being serious, you don't need anything? ::Tommy: I usually just take myself. ::Danielle: We're headed on a flight to Washington. We should be there for a few days. You don't need anything? ::Tommy: A flight? What for? ::Danielle: Rizzo texted us. Who knows why? Tommy grunts and gets up, headed for his room. ::Matt: You scared of flying, Tom? Tommy ignores him as Matt smirks. ---- They all sit opposite from each other on the comfortable but not small plane. Donnie is listening to music on his headphones while the others talk and eat. ::Tommy: This is quite the improvement from my first time. ::Matt: You smuggle yourself onto some cargo plane? Tommy glares at Matt and then takes a sip of his iced water. ::Tommy: No. For your information, I saved up and bought myself a ticket. Had no money left for peanuts or water, so I sneaked some from the cart. I also felt nauseous. A pretty crappy way to get introduced to flying. ::Danielle: You stole? ::Tommy: I can hear the judgement in your voice. You were a politician in training, I'm sure you had plenty of luxury flights. ::Danielle: Nice planes, maybe. But I never felt happy with it. I was always too stressed, too worried about messing up. I feel a lot more comfortable with everything now. The group clink their glasses together. ::Kenji: I think we all know how that is. ::Ashlee: Friendship is a wonderful thing! ::Tommy: Don't get sentimental on me. Ashlee smiles and gets up, throwing away her wrappers. ::Ashlee: I have to go the bathroom. Excuse me. As Ashlee walks away, Tommy sits back in his chair and thinks to himself. Danielle picks up her notebook, as Matt reaches around and taps her on the shoulder. ::Danielle: Yes? Matt whispers to her and she fakes disgust. Tommy glances at them to see a small smile on Danielle's face. Tommy gets up and begins to talk when he sees purple gas filling up the plane. ::Tommy: Everybody, get a mask on! Donnie falls down, unconcious, as Matt and Danielle scramble to find their breathing masks, but see that there are none on the plane. Both fall down onto each other as Tommy runs to help them out. The gas begins to fill up his lungs as he falls down. Things get blurry. ::Tommy: Ash, st-stay in the- Tommy falls unconcious from the gas. ---- Ashlee is washing her hands when she hears Tommy crying out. ::Ashlee: Tom? What do you mean? She waits for a reply, but when she hears none, she peaks through the peephole to find that they're all unconcious. She gasps, and suddenly hears a door opening. Ashlee quietly stands there and looks through the peephole to see two soldiers headed for her friends. ::Soldier #1: We almost had these little bastards like four times. ::Soldier #2: They're good. Cross sent out one of those super soldiers for them and they took it down. ::Soldier #1: If you ask me, Cross is an idiot. There are six of them. So send six super soldiers. ::Soldier #2: He's saving them. There's a reason he's in charge. ::Soldier #1: Asshole. ::Soldier #2: At least I'm not an idiot. Ashlee rolls her eyes as the soldiers bicker. She looks around in the bathroom for anything to use as a weapon, but finds that she has nothing. She bites her lip and sits down, waiting. '' ::'Soldier #1': These guys are heavy. ::'Soldier #2': Or you're weak. ''Ashlee plugs her ears as they spat and slowly drag her friends out of the room. She hears a door slam, so she quietly opens the bathroom door. '' ::'Ashlee': Okay. My friends are unconcious. I'm at an unknown location. I'm severly outmatched. This is really bad. ''Ashlee paces before taking a deep breath and peaking out the window to see that they are at the F.A.N.T HQ parking lot. '' ::'Ashlee': There has to be others there. I could really use some help. ''As she walks to the door, she looks out to see her friends being loaded into crates. '' ::'Ashlee': Just like Amy. ''Ashlee opens the door to find a soldier waiting for her, with a gun out. ::Soldier: You aren't very quiet, Ms. Murphy. Before she can reply, he shoots her with a dart and she falls down onto the ground. ::Soldier: We got another! The two soldiers grumble and come back on board to take Ashlee and pack her in a crate. ---- A truck is driving the crates into a garage inside the HQ, when the tires deflate and it comes to a screeching halt. ::Soldier #1: Jesus, what now? ::Soldier #2: You run over someone? ::Soldier #1: Hopefully. The first soldier gets up and finds that the tires were punctured. He walks around to the back to get a spare, when he falls down in pain. This reveals his attacker to be Jake Skett. ::Soldier #2: Jerry? You alright? The second soldier gets up and sees Skett, pointing his gun at him. ::Soldier #2: Look, asshole, back up or I kill you. Skett walks toward him, unfazed. The second soldier sighs and fires, but finds that his gun has been jammed. The soldier looks around to find the whole 410 squad sitting there. ::Skett: Thanks, Alena. ::Carter: No problem, babe. Skett then punches the soldier in the face, knocking him out. Sinn gets up and heads over to the two soldiers. ::Sinn: I'll take care of these mercs. Zabrent, come over here and help. ::Zabrent: Come on! I already blew up their tires with my cool electric powers. Sinn glares at Zabrent who reluctantly walks over to help. Skett pulls up the back of the truck and sees the large amount of crates. Carter opens the bottom crate, to find Ashlee there, frozen in stasis. ::Carter: Poor girl. Carter and Skett lug the crate out as Sinn and Zabrent tie up the soldiers, throwing them into the back of the truck. ---- In Rizzo's office, she's sitting there, clearly annoyed and tied up as a soldier stands in front of the door for security precautions. ::Rizzo: Hey. You. The soldier uncomfortably shifts and pretends to not hear her. ::Rizzo: I know you can hear me. The soldier reluctantly turns toward her, gun out and pointed at her. ::Rizzo: You're new to this. A merc. You weren't intended to guard a high level target like myself, but your fellow mercenaries don't especially care and are focused on the money. ::Soldier: H-how did you know? ::Rizzo: I was in the FBI for many years. Did jobs for the CIA. Now I run a high-level operation that often determines whether millions live or die. You pick up some tricks. ::Soldier: Your point? ::Rizzo: Cut me out and you'll get off with no charges. And a sizable paycheck. ::Soldier: Look, lady, we have this place covered. You aren't getting away from this. ::Rizzo: You have most of my agents accounted for, but you aren't thinking about the others. And a few special forces. And they'll kick your ass. The soldier nervously paces until he realizes that she's probably right. ::Soldier: Yeah, alright. Rizzo does a wide, warm smile as he cuts her free. She stretches and then punches him in the jaw swiftly, knocking him out, causing him to drop his gun. The smile turns to a mischevious smirk. ::Rizzo: CIA taught me how to lie. Idiot. Rizzo takes his gun and knife and quietly slips out of the room. ---- Ashlee wakes up inside a wasteland. Everything is blurry and she sees fire and wreckage. As she walks down the road, alone, she gazes around, terrified. ::Ashlee: Hello? Guys? Tommy? You out there?! Ashlee walks forward and suddenly, the bodies of her friends surround her. Kenji has a stab wound in the chest, Danielle is hung, Matt and Donnie's necks are snapped, and she sees Tommy, groaning in pain. ::Ashlee: Tommy! Oh, no. Oh, no. I can save you. It's gonna be fine. Tommy smiles at her as Ashlee looks down and sees a gunshot wound in his abdomen. She gasps and presses cloth against it. ::Tommy: It's too late Ash. T-too late. Tommy then closes his eyes and falls silent as Ashlee shakes his body violently. ::Ashlee: Tom! Tom! Wake up! Ashlee falls down and sobs, when everything goes black. ---- Ashlee wakes up, gasping and sweating, feeling cold all over. She looks around to see the 410 squad staring at her. ::Carter: You're up! Ashlee shivers and looks around, breathing heavily. Carter presses her hand up on Ashlee's back. ::Skett: Logia would've been good with this. ::Ashlee: My friends, all my friends. It was terrible. ::Carter: You're safe now. We work for F.A.N.T and we're looking to take down the guys who did this to you. ::Ashlee: Yeah. I guess I'm okay. That was just...awful. I'm Ashlee. Ashlee Murphy. ::Carter: Alena Carter. This is my boss Eric Sinn, my friend James Zabrent, and my boyfriend Jake Skett. Zabrent waves and smiles, Skett nods once, and Sinn shakes her hand. ::Ashlee: What a nice group! Thanks for saving me. I have to find my friends. They have them. ::Sinn: You're the special ops team, right? Rizzo told me about a group of superpowered people besides The Operatives. ::Ashlee: That's us! We were told that we were summoned by Rizzo. The soldiers took out my friends and I went to help them, but got knocked out myself. Now I'm here, seperated from them. ::Zabrent: There are a lot of those trucks. This is no small scale operation. We're going to need to take down the leader. ::Skett: Us going alone would be suicide. ::Ashlee: Let's find my friends! ::Sinn: Good idea. The squad and Ashlee get inside the truck and drive into the garage. ---- Rizzo is quietly walking through the prison section, machine gun at the ready. She passes a group of prisoners banging on the glass to be released, and ignores them, turning into the archive section, where she finds the crates being stacked up. She ducks behind a wall and listens to the soldiers. ::Soldier #1: This should be it. ::Soldier #2: I think we're a couple short. ::Soldier #1: It's probably those idiots Jerry and James. Always late. ::Soldier #2: You're right. Let's get outta here. They can stack the things themselves. The soldiers leave out the back door and Rizzo slowly and cautiously comes out from the wall, walking over to the massive stack of crates. She goes over to a large switch. ::Rizzo: This is either a trap or my best hope for winning this. Better to take the risk. She closes her eyes and turns the switch on, causing every crate to slowly open. Rizzo breathes a sigh of relief when she hears the door swing open. She turns around and takes her gun out, pointing it at the intruder, who the camera shows to be Mr. Cross. ::Rizzo: Get on your knees. Hands up. ::Mr. Cross: Ms. Rizzo. Of course you escaped. Just my luck. ::Rizzo: These are the best mercenaries you can hire? ::Mr. Cross: We're spending our money on some other things. I can demonstrate. ::Rizzo: I don't think I'll like it. ::Mr. Cross: You're right. Mr. Cross flings a fireball at Rizzo from his hands, knocking her onto the ground. ::Mr. Cross: That injection was a smart choice. Mr. Cross walks over to the crates to find that one of them is empty. ::Tommy: Hey, asshole. Tommy punches Cross in the face, knocking him out. ::Tommy: Rizzo, you okay? Rizzo groans and is pulled up by Tommy. ::Rizzo: I've experienced worse than a measly fireball. ::Tommy: Good. I was afraid you were soft. Tommy smirks as he sits down next to Rizzo, who glares at him. They wait for the others to come to. ---- The squad and Ashlee park and begin to get out of the truck quietly. Sinn guides them out slowly in single file as they head to enter the main floor from the garage. They soon hear a clatter, and all look back to see their truck tipped over, and a large man behind it, next to a group. ::Ashlee: Wow! Zabrent charges toward the group, but a shield hits him in the face, knocking him to the ground. Zabrent rubs his head as one of the super soldiers taps his head, causing him to fall unconcious. ::Sinn: Everybody, be careful. We need to- Sinn then hears a loud ringing and falls unconcious, as does the others. The large man picks up Ashlee and slings her over his shoulder. ::Super Soldier: Nice job. Robert, take Ashlee to Cross. We'll take the others and see the proper use for them. The large man, Robert, nods and brings Ashlee to a car in the garage and throws her in the trunk. The others load up the 410 squad in their truck and drive off. ---- The team and Rizzo are making their way through the HQ slowly, fighting off the soldiers and trying to remain undetected. '' ::'Matt': What an awful dream. Being put in ice....bad feeling. ::'Danielle': Yeah. I felt cold, all over. ::'Donnie': Same. ''Kenji shudders and nods as Tommy motions them forward. ::Tommy: We can wallow in sadness once we find Ashlee. The others smile and nod, straightening up and following quickly. ::Rizzo: It's so odd how she got seperated. ::Tommy: When we all went under, she was still concious. Maybe she escaped. ::Danielle: Hope she's alright. ::Tommy: Yeah, me too. Rizzo takes forward to the interrogation cells, and finds a large group of soldiers. ::Donnie: Oh, great. ::Matt: Finally, some fun! Kenji, Matt, Donnie, and Danielle all battle as Rizzo and Tommy head to search for Ashlee. Tommy reaches the final cell to see a fireball flying past and presses his head up against the door, jiggling the doorknob. ::Tommy: Ash! Ash! Ashlee is pushed into the spotlight. She falls down and grunts, but gets up. ::Ashlee: Heroes don't give up. Ashlee looks around in the darkness to spot her opponent, when a fireball is hurled toward her. She uses her telekinesis to narrowly catch it and throw it at the ground. The opponent then comes into the spotlight slowly, revealing him as Mr. Cross. ::Mr. Cross: Heroes don't exist. Just winners and losers. Ashlee frowns at him as she throws a punch, but he dodges it and disappears into the darkness. ::Ashlee: We can all be heroes if we strive for i- Ashlee is then interrupted by a fireball that knocks her to the ground. She groans in pain as Mr. Cross walks into the spotlight and pulls out a gun. ::Mr. Cross: And I'm the winner. Tommy bangs hard on the door as he cries out. ::Tommy: No! Ash! Cross fires the bullet as Ashlee focuses her powers and psionically explodes the bullet, knocking Cross back, and weakly gets up. ::Ashlee: I have telekinesis, dude. Do your research. Ashlee knocks Cross out with a punch to the face. Rizzo dashes forward and uses her master key to open the cell. Ashlee falls down, breathing heavily as Tommy races toward her. The others catch up as they walk past the knocked out soldier squad. ::Rizzo: I'll go take care of the loose ends. Rizzo quietly slips out as Donnie picks up Cross and throws him out. Tommy helps Ashlee onto her feet. ::Ashlee: What were you so worried about? ::Tommy: Well, you were injured, on the ground, locked in a room with a pyrokinetic psychopath who had a gun to your head. ::Ashlee: But I have telekinesis. Tommy grins as Ashlee hugs him. They all watch on, smiling. ---- Sinn is sitting across from Rizzo in her office. Both have cans of beer. ::Sinn: Thanks for rescuing us from that truck. ::Rizzo: Even super soldiers can't beat pierced tires. They clink their cans together as Rizzo sips hers. ::Sinn: I like that girl. Murphy. She has potential. ::Rizzo: Sorry, you aren't getting a fifth squad member. ::Sinn: Too bad. ::Rizzo: She's something special. That whole team is. They're all young adults fighting against a threat that's unlike anything you or I have seen before. ::Sinn: Assholes who kidnap agents seem pretty common to me. Rizzo rolls her eyes and finishes her beer, throwing it in the trash. ::Rizzo: No. A gigantic organization. Kind of like Lynxclaw, but different. ::Sinn: What's so different? ::Rizzo: These guys seem to be working for a shop on the corner. Sinn laughs until he sees that Rizzo is completely serious. ::Sinn: For real? ::Rizzo: Yep. It makes no sense. Little place called D'Angelo & Sons. ::Sinn: What use would they have for destroying F.A.N.T and freezing up superpowered people? ::Rizzo: That's the thing. I have no clue. ::Sinn: Well, you have that guy. Cross, right? The leader? ::Rizzo: True. He seems to be the man in charge. We're taking him to a more private facility so they don't come for him. ::Sinn: You'll figure it out, Helen. You always do. Sinn throws away his can and slips out from her office. ---- Cross is tied up inside a large military vehicle driving down an off-road at night. ::Mr. Cross: This isn't a good idea. ::Agent: Shut up. ::Mr. Cross: I was simply warning you. The agent rolls his eyes and focuses back on the road when he sees a truck driving straight toward him. ::Agent: What the hell? Cross closes his eyes and whinces as the truck crashes into the vehicle, knocking it over off the road. The agent dies from the impact as Cross groans in pain. Suddenly, cold air bursts in as the door is opened. ::Soldier: You okay, sir? ::Mr. Cross: I was in the war. I've felt worse. The soldier nods and helps Cross out of the vehicle. '' ::'Mr. Cross': D'Angelo isn't going to be happy. I lost to a little girl and our super soldiers are in their possesion. I can't believe I failed like that. ::'Soldier': Sir, I have good news. ::'Mr. Cross': Yes? ::'Soldier': We've captured a number of superpowered people from the other universe. Allies of Ms. Jackson. ::'Mr. Cross': Excellent. Maybe today wasn't so bad after all. ''Mr. Cross and the soldier walk toward the truck and get in, driving off. Reception TBA Trivia TBA